Love Anthony

From the award-winning New York Times best-selling author of Still Alice and Left Neglected, comes a heartfelt novel about an accidental friendship that gives a grieving mother a priceless gift: the ability to understand the thoughts of her eight-year-old autistic son and make sense of his brief life. Two women, each cast adrift by unforseen events in their lives, meet by accident on a Nantucket beach and are drawn into a friendship.

Olivia cannot move on with her life until she understands the reason for Anthony's life and death as an autistic child. Then she meets Beth who is writing a book about a boy speaking through her to his mother. As Olivia pours through her journals about life with her son, Anthony, his story comes to life through two different perspectives.

The story was entertaining but I had a hard time believing that someone could write an book on a subject that they hadn't researched and come up with a paranormal channeling experience giving a non-verbal child a believable voice that has the vocabulary of an adult.

Although I did enjoy the story of Beth and Olivia's relationship, I found parts of it teadious and farfetched. I enjoyed Genova's first two novels, Still Alice and Left Neglected , much more, which were entertaining and educational at the same time.

I will still be on the look-out for the author's next novel because I was so blown away with "Still Alice"

The Snow Child

Debut novelist Eowyn ivey’s experience living in the Alaskan wilderness brings a palpable authenticity to The Snow Child. Alaska in the 1920s is a difficult place for Jack and Mabel. Drifting apart, the childless couple discover Faina, a young girl living alone in the wilderness. Soon, Jack and Mabel come to love Faina as their own. But when they learn a surprising truth about the girl, their lives change in profound ways.

Enchanting is the word that comes to mind when I think of this beautiful but sad novel. It is the story of a broken hearted husband and wife whose sadness overwhelms them as they long for their child who died at birth. The first time author, Eowyn Ivy, paints a picture with words that seem to jump right off of the page bringing you into 1920s Alaska, a wilderness of magical beauty . The author is an expert storyteller, with perfection at spinning a surprising tale of a little girl who will raise the question in your mind, from chapter to chapter, Is she really real or an illusion of a fairy tale?

Middle aged Jack and Mabel planned on creating a new start for themselves byhomesteading in Alaska. The first winter they began to realize that leaving the past sorrow of their child that died might be more difficult than they thought. Consequently, they began to have doubts that at their age they would be able to survive the harsh winters. On the evening of their first snow they decide to build a snow man but it ends up looking like a girl. Both of them feeling giddy, dress their snow girl in a knit hat, scarf and mittens. The next morning the snow girl is mysteriously gone. Later that day they catch glimpses of a little girl dashing through the woods wearing the same apparel as the missing snow girl. This is how Faina, the magical child, comes into the couple's life. Faina is in and out of their lives through the winter and then disappears in the summer, returning the next winter. Mabel feels maternal and gets attached to her while trying to unsuccessfully tame her but Jack realizes that the girl is a child of the snow and knows to let her come and go as she pleases. Jack refers to her, "Like a rainbow trout in a stream, a wild thing glittering in dark water."

This novel spoke to me because my family lived in Anchorage, Alaska for eight years when I was a child. For me, it brought back stirring memories of the dark winters and everlasting sunshine of the summers. It is no surprise that Eowyn Ivy is an Alaska native because it seems that her prose of the land comes straight from her heart. When I leave a novel and the story stays with me I know that I will never forget it and then I realize I have read a piece of work by a truly gifted author. I will be waiting and watching for her next novel.

I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me

Joan Rivers is a groundbreaking, award-winning, internationally renowned entertainment goddess. She’s also opinionated - especially when it comes to people she hates. Like people who think giving birth is a unique achievement. Or well-adjusted - a.k.a. boring - ex-child stars who don’t even have a decent addiction. With all of her diverse experiences, it stands to reason that Joan has seen, done, said, and heard a lot of hateful things. Thank god, she took notes.

Although I enjoy watching Joan Rivers in her comedy acts I did not like this audio. It came across a boring, hence the tile, and totally not funny. I only got about halfway through before I decided to quit listening.

The Light Between Oceans: A Novel

In 1918, after four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia to take a job as the lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes only four times a year and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel.

When a baby appears on the shores of a deserted island off of the coast of Australia, Tom and Isabella provide a warm and comforting home for the infant and Isabella considers the newborn a gift from God since she has had several miscarriages and has no hope for a baby of her own. After a couple of years their lives are cruelly torn apart when they discover the baby's mother, on the mainland, has been desperately searching for the child. As they relinquish the child to the natural mother, Tom and Isabella's lives become a torrent of emotions.

The plot of the novel continues with the gripping despair of Tom and both mothers. They all try to be rational but are downtrodden with of jealousy and fear. It is quite a good but heartbreaking story that any parent can relate to. I listened to it on audio and the narrater's Australian accent was easy to understand but his voice went from strong to a whisper when, I'm assuming, he was trying for effect. This annoyance really took away from the story for me so at a later date I think I would like to read the book instead of listening to it. This happens sometimes between audio and books!

The Sandcastle Girls: A Novel

When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Syria, she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke College, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The First World War is spreading across Europe, and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian genocide. There, Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. When Armen leaves Aleppo to join the British Army in Egypt, he begins to write Elizabeth letters....

Laura Petrosian, a novelist, begins to research her Armenian heritage and the story takes her back to 1915 when her grandmother, Elizabeth Endicott, traveled with a group of nurses from Boston, Mass. to provide aid to the refugees of Armenian genocide. Amid the horrors of the treatment and deaths of the Armenian women she falls in love with Arman, an engineer who travels to Egypt to join the British army. Amidst the chaos their love is kept alive through letters.

The rapes and starvation of the women are hard to read about and may be depressing for some. I wanted to love this novel like I loved Skeletons at the Feast , my favorite of Bohjalian's novels. I did like it but something was missing. It just did not come together like I think it should have. The story was simple and there was not much plot since it was obvious to me from the start how the story would turn out. Also the transitions from past to present were awkward. I think it would have been a better novel if it had been told totally in the past… but that's just me. The only other novel that I have read about the Armenian genocide was The Gendarme . I enjoyed it more because it was shocking and the story, as horrible as it was, was smoothly written and very believable.

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